A woman who helped her lodger burgle his brother’s house was caught after leaving her fingerprints at the scene.

Gemma Smith helped Ryan Taylor commit the crime at his brother Andrew Taylor’s home on Stanley Street in Accrington - just minutes after he left the property, Burnley Crown Court.

They broke in through the living room window and stole a Sony television before selling it later the same day at Cash Generators in Accrington.

The court heard how both defendants left their fingerprints at the scene and Gemma Smith left her details with the store to trade in the stolen goods.

Smith, 25, of Dowry Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to burglary and was given a four months jail term, suspended for six months and ordered to pay a £900 criminal courts charge.

Taylor, 25, formerly of Dowry Street and now of no fixed abode, also pleaded guilty to burglary and will be sentenced at a later date after a warrant was issued for his arrest because he failed to attend court.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court how the victim Andrew Taylor, his partner and their children were not at the house when the burglary happened on May 26 this year.

The court was told how Andrew Taylor had left the property at around 4pm and when he returned at 6.45pm found the living room window ‘wide open’ and a drain pipe blocking the window ‘ripped away from the wall’.

Mr Parker said fingerprints from Ryan Raylor were recovered from the drainpipe and Smith’s fingerprints were found on the window.

He said: “Andrew Taylor made his own enquiries believing his brother was responsible for it.

“Sometime after the burglary he saw his television [in Cash Generators] and confirmed to a member of staff that it was stolen in a burglary.

“She checked the records and confirmed on May 26 – the day of the burglary – that the television had been brought to the store by someone giving their details as Gemma Smith.”

James Heyworth, defending, said Smith’s actions were ‘bizarre’ as it was a ‘stark contrast to her normal way of life’.

He said that Smith was her lodger but wasn’t paying for any food or rent.